Forever After
by hollie-lou-xx
Summary: After Freddie dies, Cook visits Effy just before the funeral. Cook and Effy realise that no matter what happens, they will always have each other.


Title: Forever After

Author: hollie-lou-xx

Summary: After Freddie dies, Cook visits Effy just before the funeral. Cook and Effy realise that no matter what happens, they will always have each other.

Rating: T, for the odd bit of swearing here and there.

A/N: I do not own ANYTHING to do with skins, except my ideas. :)

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She was sat on the edge of her bed, looking uncharacteristically pale and uneasy. Her shocking blue eyes were closed, as though the simple action had the power to block out everything going on around her.

For a few minutes, James Cook stood in the doorway, watching his friends with real tears in his eyes. Tears that he was far too proud to cry, even if nobody would see. That was hardly the point though; he would not cry. He forbade himself of it.

"Eff?" he whispered, after ten minutes of standing in the doorway and swallowing back his sobs.

At last her bright eyes opened, and a small smile danced across her face. "Come in cookie," her voice was softer than ever before.

He nodded and stepped inside, closing the door behind him gently. He stayed put by the door though; it seemed… disrespectful to be in his dead best friend's girlfriend's room. Cook ignored the fact that he had been in the room with Effy plenty of times before, in less cavalier circumstances.

"You don't have to stand there. Sit down," Effy instructed, a hint of amusement in her light yet husky voice.

Cook tried for one of his easy, boyish grins but it was the result was half hearted. So he sat down beside Effy in silence. For the first time ever, he didn't admire her lithe figure, nor her easy confidence in her posture. He barely even looked at her.

After a few minutes, she lay her head on his shoulder. And that one simple action gave her a tiny fraction of hope, of safety. She forgot for the smallest of seconds that in one hour her boyfriend would be deep underground, nothing but his memory left to comfort her. She would never ever see his warm brown eyes again, never fool around in his shed again. But all too soon, the ache in her chest- in her heart- started again.

"I miss him Cook." Those words were a milestone in recovering- it was the first time she had admitted it out loud.

"I know Eff; so do I." And Cook's words were true; he missed Freddie StClair more than he had ever missed anybody.

"I cant stop hurting. No matter what I do, what I say… the feelings are all still there." Cook winced as he listened to Effy's heartfelt words. He could hear the sobs choking her, and he despised that he couldn't help her.

For a minute, he was bemused. Cool collected Effy Stonem was on the verge of tears. The ice princess was melting. Cook could feel the tears he had worked so hard at keeping in trail down his cheeks. He didn't try and wipe them away, he just left them to trickle.

"Maybe we aren't supposed to stop hurting yet. It wouldn't be right, would it?" Cook mused, questioning his own beliefs.

Effy sniffed. "I don't want to let him go. I'm scared that if I do, I'll forget about him completely."

Cook could practically feel his heart breaking. He wrapped his arms tight around Effy's shoulders, hiding his face in her hair. He hated seeing the girl he had known and loved irrevocably for so long fall apart.

"We're not supposed to let go babe. Not entirely anyway. You know why?" Cook paused before answering his question. "Because me, you and Freds? We're family, bound together no matter what happens."

Effy thought about his words and decided that he was right. No matter how fucked up their relationships were, they all loved- no, they all _adored- each other. Why should they let death come between them? Why let it ruin everything they had built? _

_She smiled and stood up, and after fixing her black dress, she reached out her hand to Cook. Instinctively, Cook took it in his larger one, savouring the feel of her smooth skin against his boyish roughness. _

_Then Effy did something he was not prepared for. She stood up on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek. It was a light action, her lips barely brushing his skin. But she lingered for minutes afterwards, just to whisper one word into his ear. _

"_Thank you." And then, almost as though she had never spoken, never kissed him, she wound her fingers through his. _

_It was then that they both realised that they would never be alone. Effy always had, and always would have Cook, no matter how much he drove her insane with his crazy antics. And Cook would always have Effy, no matter how utterly mental she may become, or how much she might claim to hate him. _

_With or without Freddie as a permanent fixture, they were a family. Pure and simple. _


End file.
